Republicans Shut Down Federal Government... and Make Jokes About It!

     This was something many people saw coming.  Especially since this current batch of House Republicans are more dead-set on doing absolutely nothing than all others that came before.  They only have a 10% approval rating!  Way to go Tea Party.

     Well here is a nice little joke from Marsha Blackburn, Rep. (R) of Tennesse:



"You know, I think you may see a partial shutdown for several days. But Steve [Doocy], people are probably going to realize they can live with a lot less government than what they thought they needed," -Marsha Blackburn (R- TN)

     Must be rough getting more paid vacation time and be in no rush to fix the problems created by not doing your jobs up on those Republican high horses.  Seriously, it's disgusting to know they are getting paid to not work.  The joke is even funnier because she is commenting on us not needing her.
     The GOP shouldn't be allowed back in if this is how they want to play.


The Reason for the shutdown:

     A fellow named Kevin Drum has summed up the reason behind this childish congressional tactic of holding their breath and throwing an extraordinary tantrum:

The Republican Party is bending its entire will, staking its very soul, fighting to its last breath, in service of a crusade to.... 

Make sure that the working poor don't have access to affordable health care. I just thought I'd mention that in plain language, since it seems to get lost in the fog fairly often. But that's it. That's what's happening. They have been driven mad by the thought that rich people will see their taxes go up slightly in order to help non-rich people get decent access to medical care. 

That's a pretty stirring animating principle, no?

     Ezra Klein over at the Washington Post had a similar thing to say:

This is all about stopping a law that increases taxes on rich people and reduces subsidies to private insurers in Medicare in order to help low-income Americans buy health insurance. That's it. That's why the Republican Party might shut down the government and default on the debt.

     As a professional Health Care worker this is frankly disturbing.  The USA is in the upper 30's according to the World Health Org.  Despite John Boehner saying the "U.S. health care system is the best in the world," this is simply not true. 
     Anyone wonder what the one thing all 30-something other countries with better systems have in common is?  It would be universal coverage.  There isn't the overlord insurance companies with a massive incentive to deny any and all coverage possible just to save a buck hovering over people.
     We can spend almost $730 BILLION a year to end lives with military and defense, but we can't ensure the safety and health of citizens?  Staggeringly absurd.

     I generally hate talking about politics, but this is just dumb.  If I don't show up for my job, I get fired.  If I refuse to do my job, I get fired.  In all honesty, these "Government Workers" are huge leeches that need to be cut off.
     They aren't doing their jobs, so they need to be cut off.  We should band together and put in to effect the Warren Buffett method:

"I could end the deficit in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than three percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. Yeah, yeah, now you've got the incentives in the right place, right? (Laughs)

     Which could be done without congress through means explained on a link here if you care to read it- [ CNBC ]


     And as a nice last touch here is a list of 9 ways congress needs to be punished for their shutdown from The Washington Post.